[Please note that the views presented by individual contributors
are not necessarily representative of the views of ATCA, which is neutral.
ATCA conducts collective Socratic dialogue on global opportunities and threats.]

Happy New Year! 2009 is going to be wondrous and eclectic!

In the middle of the economic and financial turmoil of 2008, which ATCA's
5,000+ global community of experts had predicted to a large extent and discussed
point by point in Socratic Dialogue between 2001 and 2007, something new,
something massive, is emerging.

Only those who have been living in a cave, or been myopic in their pursuit
of more, can claim that every aspect of 2008 was a surprise. In fact, very
little was new from an asymmetric threats perspective or from the point
of view of low probability high impact risks and the forecast of concatenated
black swans. Even if they had begun paying attention to ATCA's
Socratic dialogue as late as August 2007, they would have found that
2008 was broadly running to script, albeit at an accelerated rate.

Whilst comparisons are drawn daily with The Great Depression of the 1930s,
there is also the possibility of a new Golden Age! It is clear what is happening
may become unprecedented in human history. However, beyond the immediate
gloom, the short to medium term pain may, in fact, give way to a longer
term Golden Age. This was covered in the ATCA briefing "Towards
A Golden Age? A Wisdom based Global Economy" published on 23rd
May 2008.

The characteristics of the Golden Age are likely to be accelerated enlightenment,
renaissance and reinvention of the individual's thinking, societal group
think and the redesign of linear industrial age systems and support mechanisms
towards non-linear and circular ones by corporations, organisations and
governments.

Out of the ashes of the existing old-model linear industrial civilisation
a new non-linear society has the potential to emerge. A society offering
a decent life style for the majority of the human population. In order to
achieve this, the focus of entrepreneurship has to be channelled on the
well being of humanity, the preservation of the world's natural resources,
eco-systems and future generations. We are all one as children of the same
planet and together we have no choice save to create a meaningful future
for the generations to come. We can facilitate the transformation as we
work together. It is time to leave the yard stick of the past behind and
to recognise that we are all entrenched in this new reality and to explore
the available avenues we are facing together.

The step-by-step revolution has just begun and it has a long way to go as
humanity realises its full potential by integrating the physical, intellectual
and spiritual dimensions to build a non-linear and circular economic model
that produces near zero waste and consumes responsibly whilst being conscious
of the consequences to the environment and upon itself. The concept that
the environment, ie, the habitat and humanity are not separate from each
other and are essentially one is going to gain ground as we seek to find
asymmetric solutions for the global crises which we now confront. What we
do to others we do unto ourselves. With the elimination of duality, and
confrontation of one-ness, how easy will it be to wage war with mutual assured
damage and destruction? There is also the wisdom of another great spiritual
poet -- Saadi -- to be considered:"The human family is one body with many parts
Creations arising from one unseen essence
Any harm to any part summons an awakening
a dis-ease and a healing response from all parts
Those who fail to feel the pain of others cannot be called truly human."

We are grateful to Yasuhiko Genku Kimura, a distinguished ATCA and Holistic
Quantum Relativity (HQR) group contributor; Founder and Chairman of Vision-In-Action,
based in New York; an ordained Buddhist Priest and Scholar; and Transhumanist
Philosopher. He is Japanese-American and he writes:

Dear DK and Friends

A Happy New Year!

In 2009 and beyond, we are entering an era of a new kind of frugality and
prudence. Financially we must be prepared to be on our own and ready to
voluntarily assist one another. Within the next few years the availability
of many of our society's structures and systems that we now take for granted
are likely to crumble.

Lao Tzu states in Tao Te Ching (in Verse 46):

"There is no greater vice than giving in to greed,
No greater calamity than not knowing contentment,
No greater imputation than succumbing to covetousness.
Therefore, know and be content with what is enough.
Then you will always have enough."

Those who cling to the notion of external causation or external authority
will continue to depend on, and thus expect from, and push blame on, the
government. While those who are willing to look within and develop their
inner resourcefulness will grow and evolve in quantum leaps throughout the
whole breakdown of the societal structure and infrastructure. The expansion
of the inter-net will give way to the evolution of the inner-net which requires
no external electricity but the internal light of awareness.

Lao Tzu states elsewhere (in Verse 44):

"The more excessive is your attachment,
The greater is your suffering.
The more excessive is your possession,
The heavier is your loss.
To know what is enough is to be free from disgrace.
To know when to stop is to be free from danger.
Those who practice this will long endure."

Like any academic discipline today, economics has become a highly specialised
field, which the general public has difficulties comprehending because of
its sheer complexity - its specialised language, use of complex mathematics,
and enormity of statistical data. The talks on economy sometimes give an
impression that economics is basically all about manipulating insubstantial
numbers and figures.

However, in its basic essence, economics is "the science of who gets
what, when, how, how much, for how long, and at what price." (W J Murray)
The real substance of economics is the creation of wealth, the conversion
of wealth into exchangeable asset, and the exchange of valued and valuated
asset. In short, real value creation, production, and exchange. The numbers
and figures do not mean anything unless they are attached to and backed
up by real value (wealth/asset).

We simply need to return to the basics. That is, create wealth and produce
value and live within our means. And develop the wisdom to know what is
enough.

Wishing you all a Wondrous New Year of further growth and evolution!

Yasuhiko Genku Kimura

Vision without action is empty. Action without vision is blind. Opinion
and ideology divide. Quest and commitment unite.

Yasuhiko Genku Kimura is the Founder and Chairman of Vision-In-Action. He
is an ordained Buddhist priest and scholar; transhumanist philosopher; creator
and leader of transformational philosophical programs; consultant-advisor
to leaders in business, science, and cultural organisations. Yasuhiko Kimura
teaches dedicated adults philosophy as a way of self-realization outside
the confines of academia, using his unique Zen-like Socratic method of philosophical
inquiry and various intellectually challenging texts from the East and the
West, contemporary as well as ancient. A philosopher of science, he is a
founding member of the Evolution of Science Group that meets annually to
explore and develop new philosophical foundations of science.

From 1998 to 2002 Yasuhiko Kimura served as Executive Director of The Twilight
Club, originally established in the 19th century as a venerable American
tradition by Herbert Spencer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Mark Twain,
Edwin Markham, Andrew Carnegie, Oliver Wendell Holms, William James, John
Borroughs, and others for the purpose of ethical uplifting of the world
through the enrichment of culture. In the early 20th century, Thomas Watson,
Sr and Walter Russell developed The Twilight Club into The Society of Arts
and Science. In 2003, Mr Kimura established Vision-In-Action, an action-oriented
sapient circle of thought leaders, as the 21st-century version of The Twilight
Club/Society of Arts and Science, to develop and implement creative, innovative,
and transformative approaches to problems and challenges facing humanity
that will bring about novel resolutions and a new evolutionary pathway for
the world. He is the author of four books and over 50 essays on the subjects
of philosophy, science and business.

ATCA: The Asymmetric Threats
Contingency Alliance is a philanthropic expert initiative founded
in 2001 to resolve complex global challenges through collective
Socratic dialogue and joint executive action to build a wisdom
based global economy. Adhering to the doctrine of non-violence,
ATCA addresses asymmetric threats and social opportunities arising
from climate chaos and the environment; radical poverty and microfinance;
geo-politics and energy; organised crime & extremism; advanced
technologies -- bio, info, nano, robo & AI; demographic skews
and resource shortages; pandemics; financial systems and systemic
risk; as well as transhumanism and ethics. Present membership
of ATCA is by invitation only and has over 5,000 distinguished
members from over 120 countries: including 1,000 Parliamentarians;
1,500 Chairmen and CEOs of corporations; 1,000 Heads of NGOs;
750 Directors at Academic Centres of Excellence; 500 Inventors
and Original thinkers; as well as 250 Editors-in-Chief of major
media.

The Philanthropia, founded in 2005, brings together over
1,000 leading individual and private philanthropists, family offices,
foundations, private banks, non-governmental organisations and
specialist advisors to address complex global challenges such
as countering climate chaos, reducing radical poverty and developing
global leadership for the younger generation through the appliance
of science and technology, leveraging acumen and finance, as well
as encouraging collaboration with a strong commitment to ethics.
Philanthropia emphasises multi-faith spiritual values: introspection,
healthy living and ecology. Philanthropia Targets: Countering
climate chaos and carbon neutrality; Eliminating radical poverty
-- through micro-credit schemes, empowerment of women and more
responsible capitalism; Leadership for the Younger Generation;
and Corporate and social responsibility.